(keitai-l) Re: Any other models apart from subscriber fees

From: Funk <funk_at_rieb.kobe-u.ac.jp>
Date: 11/20/01
Message-Id: <4.1-J.20011120093950.01484630@mail.rieb.kobe-u.ac.jp>
Hello,

when I say more money, I specifically mean actual revenues for content 
providers from the mobile internet. In other words, I believe the content 
providers are making more revenues (not necessarily profits) from 
non-subscriber fees than from subscriber fees. For example, consider the 
below table which is from a chapter in my book. it shows that subscriber 
fees only represent 65% of total content revenues in fiscal 2000. there are 
several reasons why I believe this has changed since 9/2000 (which is the 
mid-point for fiscal 2000) and that the survey underestimated the other fees.

1) the survey focused on the big well known content providers and not the 
black economy of deai sites, which even the japanese press will not discuss 
in terms of revenues. these firms make money from transaction fees and 
probably finance many of the ads on other unofficial sites
2) D2C is growing quickly from revenues on toku suru menu. D2C's sales are 
a good indicator of these revenues.
3) mobile commerce services by firms such as tsutaya, cyber wing, net 
price, magaseek, and lawson are growing steadily and remember 1000 -3000 
yen purchases can quickly outdistance 100 - 300 yen a month charges. 
4) information loading revenues for firms that offer information on jobs, 
rentals, travel tours, restaurants, etc. are also growing. there is a 
reason why recruit is the number one fixed-line content provider in japan: 
it charges several thousand dollars a month to place a job on its site (and 
its magazine). separating the magazine, fixed-line, and mobile loading 
revenues are difficult but nevertheless, this is big money.
5) retailers like tsutaya and jeansmate claim the mobile internet is 
bringing in more customers and other firms like radio stations claim they 
are increasing their ad revenues through the synergies between mobile 
internet ads and radio ads.


The mobile internet in japan started from simple applications and is 
evolving at a rapid pace into other areas that no one had conceived of a 
few years ago. the mobile internet is becoming the source of contact with 
young japanese consumers through surveys and other means (e.g., shiseido, 
jeansmate, etc.). It is being combined with other media like magazines 
(e.g., magaseek), television programs (Fuji TV), and radio programs (FM 802 
in osaka) to promote mobile shopping. thus mobile shopping will be a result 
of multi-channel convergence and not just a simple replacement of other 
media. the mobile internet will most likely become the basis for train 
reservations and first IC cards and then phones will be used for train 
tickets (e.g., JR, Odakyu line, shinkansen). more than 100 firms are 
developing mobile intranets that are based on the mobile internet. 

My book (the mobile internet: how japan dialed up and the rest of the world 
disconnected) deals with these issues in more detail. it is based on more 
than 40 interviews with content providers and other firms like payment 
system providers. since finishing the research for the book, I have 
interviwed another 20 content providers. things will happen differently 
overseas due to different regulations and industry structure (differences 
in fixed-line internet usage are much less important).but right now the 
rest of the world can learn from japan or from their crystal ball. I prefer 
japan.

Jeff Funk 

Table 4.1 Mobile Commerce in Japan
Segment	Market Size($ million)	Percent of Mobile Commerce	Percent of Total 
E-Commerce	MainBusiness Model
Entertainment 	420	71%	71.5%	Paid contents
Travel	50	8.4%	12.7%	Paid contents & transactions
Financial	30	5.1%	6.8%	Transactions
Books & music	25	4.2%	12.7%	Shopping
Services	20	3.3%	6.5%	Various
Electronic products (e.g., digital cameras) Computers & related products	10	
1.6%	1.1%	Shopping
Other	35	5.9%	0.9%	Various
Total	590	100%	7.2%	
Paid contents were $400 million.
Source: Accenture (www.meti.go.jp/report/whitepaper/).




At 15:14 01/11/19 -0800, you wrote:
> Jeffrey Funk wrote:
> > ...In fact, there
> > is probably more money being made in the Japanese mobile Internet from
> > methods other than the subscriber fees now.
> 
> By "money being made" do you mean revenue for the developer?  If so, this is
> news to me.
> 
> The actual i-mode developers I've heard of (which is not a huge sampling, I
> admit) all get healthy income from users directly.  For example, NetVillage's
> website says they have 350,000 users and charge 200 yen per month. Hm, maybe
> some of those users are not paying subscribers? Or perhaps NetVillage has
> other revenue that dwarfs 70m yen monthly?  Or is NetVillage a rare success,
> while most developers live on nothing but consulting fees, walking to school
> barefoot in the snow?
> 
> So I ask more specifically: (citing examples scores triple! :-)
> 
> Are the I-mode developers you've heard of making most of their money from
> subscriber fees or other sources?
> 
> -Josh
> 
> PS - Netvillage numbers from http://www.netvillage.co.jp/eng/corp/index.html
> 
> 
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Received on Tue Nov 20 03:19:37 2001